Maldives flogs women as punishment for sex outside marriage

Dozens of young women in the Maldives have been flogged in public as
punishment for extramarital sex.

President Mohammed "Ani" Nasheed of the Maldives: the new leader has pledged to liberalise a country where public floggings are still carried out.Photo: AFP

By Nick Meo

5:05PM BST 22 Jul 2009

In one of the worst cases, an 18-year-old woman received 100 lashes in public earlier this month in the capital Male, less than a year after a reformist president was voted into office.

After taking power in the Indian Ocean country, loved by holidaymakers for its pristine beachers, President Mohammed "Ani" Nasheed promised rights for all following years of brutal dictatorship but has so far proved powerless to stop the brutal punishments.

Amnesty International said on Wednesday that about 180 men and women are awaiting flogging after being sentenced by both informal Islamic sharia courts and criminal courts for having sexual intercourse outside marriage.

The young woman punished on July 5 fainted during the flogging. Two men who were her co-accused escaped punishment.

President Nasheed, who won a prestigious international human rights prize in May, has been strongly backed by Britain's Conservative Party and is a friend of the shadow foreign secretary William Hague.